Typically, roof-cap is manually cut from shingles by way of a utility knife. This job is time consuming, and depending upon the skill of the worker, may produce nonuniform pieces and substantial waste-product. Several machines have been proposed as described hereinafter; however, due to small gains in productivity, such machines have not been widely accepted or utilized.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,256 to Morrissey et al. discloses a shingle cutting apparatus including a base and a lever arm with a pair of diverging cutting blades mounted thereon. A pair of grooves are provided on the base corresponding to the cutting blades to facilitate cutting. The blades are angled so that the cutting apparatus cuts shingles into a six sided shape suitable for roof-cap. The apparatus of the '256 patent is designed to cut one shingle per operation and is hand-activated.
Another hand-activated shingle cutter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,540 to Cross et al. The shingle cutter described in the '540 patent includes a pair of fixed blades on the base as well as a pair of movable blades mounted on a lever arm. In operation, a shingle is manually positioned along an edge of the base and cut to a combined trapezoidal/rectangular shape suitable for use as roof-cap.
Other vintage shingle-cutting devices and methods are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,779,325 to Beckham; 1,981,695 to Gundlach: 1,906,599 to Hoffert; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,665,600 to Mortimer. Like the devices of the '540 and '256 patents described above, the foregoing patents are generally directed to manually cutting one shingle per operation and are exceedingly labor-intensive as are cutting or punch devices such as those generally known, for example:
the "Card File Punch" of Merrick et al. disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,143; PA1 the "Siding Cutter" of Green et al. shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,834; PA1 the "Mat Cutting Machine" of Broides, U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,119; and PA1 the "Trimming Device" of Nielsen described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,090,548.
A portable shingle cutter capable of cutting multiple shingles in a single operation while maintaining uniformity between pieces such as that of the present invention significantly increases production capability as well as maintains the quality of the end-product.